Force Majeure Winter 2014 Release Party

by Tom Lee on March 4, 2014

Previously known as Grand Rêve, Force Majeure was founded in 2004 by Paul McBride and Ryan Johnson. Force Majeure pairs some of Washington’s highly acclaimed winemakers with fruit from one of Washington’s highly acclaimed vineyards, Ciel du Cheval. The winemakers contributing to the Collaboration Series is a Who’s Who of Washington winemakers including Ben Smith, Carolyn Lakewold, Chris Gorman, James Mantone, Mark McNeilly, Mike McMorran and Ross Mickel.

Located in the Seattle suburb of Kirkland, Force Majeure is open twice a year for mailing list member release parties. The Winter Release Party featured the ’11 Collaboration Series (CS) II Syrah, ’11 CS VI Southern Rhone Blend, ’10 CS IV Merlot, ’09 CS Reserve Syrah and ’11 Force Majeure Cabernet Sauvignon.

Below are some initial thoughts and scores on the new releases. I look forward to trying all these wines again in the years to come.

Excellent notes, and they were excellent wines. I was surprised how much the viognier stood out in the II, and it will be interesting to see how that changes in a few years. To me, the IV and the Cab were the standouts, with VI close behind. I can’t say that I was completely loving the reserve, but I couldn’t get rid of the taste of the cab at that point!